The Un-Series: Week 5 Day 1

Ephesians 2:8 

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

I remember reading a story by a renowned leadership author. In the story, he relayed how hetook his daughter out for a special dinner and received really poor service. Instead of beratingthe server or asking for the manager, he got the attention of the server and gave him anexceptional tip – one that the server didn’t deserve! Along with that generous tip, this leader told the server, “You didn’t earn this tip, I’m using it to buy some time to tell you how you can get more tips like this!”

Pretty creative and very generous! The server was not worthy of the tip he received, and in that same way, we are not worthy of the grace God extends to us. Nothing can make us worthy of God’s grace. We can’t earn salvation, we can’t buy it; it is only by God’s unmerited favor, or grace, that we can enter His kingdom. Interestingly, the Greek word for “saved” is a verb that implies an action that has already been completed but still impacts us today!* God’s grace that was extended to us through Jesus’ death transforms how we live today! Let God’s grace transform you and how you live your life!

*The NIV Study Bible, Zondervan, note on Ephesians 2:8